


The engagement

by fandomwolfx



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: AU, F/F, F/M, The Proposal AU, Varchie!Centric, mentions of Betty/ Archie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 03:15:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29111418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomwolfx/pseuds/fandomwolfx
Summary: Archie Andrews didn’t really like his boss Veronica Lodge, especially not enough to be in a relationship with her.Veronica Lodge reckons that she could do a lot worse than Archie Andrews in terms of a personal assistant, probably because she doesn’t know anything about him.Yet, when jobs and record deals are on the line Archie and Veronica find themselves engaged… to be married.Or, a Varchie “The Proposal” AU.
Relationships: Archie Andrews/Veronica Lodge, Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones, Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz
Comments: 17
Kudos: 33





	1. Prologue: Day zero

**Author's Note:**

> This fic entirely spawned from me binging Ryan Reynolds entire Filmography and noticing a lot of similarities between Veronica and Sandra Bullock's character (Margaret). 
> 
> Personally, I'm more of a Betty White myself.

When Archie has to roll over and bury his head into his pillow because the beams of sunlight have somehow made its way through his tiny slatted windows, that should have been his first indication he had slept in. 

The fact he couldn’t hear his roommate Jughead noisily making coffee out of his french press because he refuses to drink instant or put more money into the greedy hands of “gentrified” coffee shops, that should have been the second indication. 

In reality, Archie Andrews does not realise he is going to be late to work until he hears the old static TV on the kitchen bench play the opening tune of “Judge Judy”, every kids favorite sick day programme, and more importantly what plays  _ after  _ the morning news.

Archie goes from dazily sleepy to adrenaline striking every nerve in his body in an instant, rolling over once again he blindly reaches out for his phone- knocking it off his nightstand in the process, along with a half full glass of water. 

Squatting on the floor, reaching for yesterday’s shirt Archie scrambles trying to retrieve his phone from all the old coffee cups and protein bar wrappers next to his bed. 

“Fuck, fuck fuck, fuck” he mutters both at the fact he’s running late and his boss is going to kill him and also becasue he’s just obliterated the front screen of his mobile.

Ignoring the missed calls and texts messages from his parents, Archie grabs a browning banana from his and Jughead’s pitiful fruit bowl and nearly trips running down his stairs as he tries to put on his tie (also the one he wore yesterday). 

It isn’t until he’s on the subway that he dares to check the time: 

09:56

he still has four minutes. 

For most people being a few minutes late to work most likely wouldn’t be a life or death situation, but then again most people don’t work for Veronica Lodge - heiress to the fortune of Lodge Records. 

He thinks it’s kind of funny that if he was to tell his sixteen year old self he actually found a career in music, and none-the-less with the infamous new york party girl Veronica Lodge he would probably die of excitement. 

What his sixteen year old self probably wouldn’t realise is that he’s essentially working a glorified temp job and that all the tabloids naming ‘Veronica Lodge’ satan’s mistress were probably not talking about her mad partying ways but more likely her bedside manner. 

Within the past three years of working for Lodge Records Archie had seen Veronica fire people for the most inane reasons: getting her the wrong type of coffee, having the wrong single played on the radio and even because someone referred to her favorite band as “indie-pop” instead of “folk-pop”. 

So basically, a few minutes might not mean a lot to some people, but they do to Veronica… and by extension to Archie. 

Pushing past an elderly couple in the lobby, and nearly catching his fingers in the elevator, Archie slides into his desk placed right outside of Veronica’s door at precisely 09:03. 

Nervously, he glances towards her plexiglass door and the look of relief on his face must be immense as his coworker K.O stifles a laugh from his cubicle opposite. 

“Dude don’t worry, the wicked witch of the west hasn’t entered emerald city just yet, she’s had some problems with.. Urm with... “ he pauses before continuing, clearly giving up with the pretense of the metaphor, “she lost her car keys”. 

Archie hears someone from a distance shout that he should have said she couldn’t find her magic broom and the whole office bursts into laughter. 

The laughter dies almost as soon as it starts when the presumed sound of those red soled shoes Veronica wears can be heard clicking down the aisle in between the desk cubicles. 

She walks with her head held high, face covered by black rimmed sunglasses mouth set with the same red lipstick she wears every day (Mac Rubywoo, Archie knows what kind it is; he's been sent to the Sephora downtown many times to go get a tube.)

When he first started working for the Lodge’s a couple of the girls he worked with used to joke that she was a younger version of MIranda Priestly from the Devil Wears Prada, when he had asked Jughead who that was he had merely responded _ ‘It doesn’t matter Arch, as long as you know that you’re the Anne Hathaway and she’s Meryl Streep.’ _

It’s normally at this point in the day (five minutes in) that Archie starts to contemplate why he hasn’t quit his job yet. He’s had this conversation over and over, working at Lodge Records is his best chance at securing a record deal for himself, and anyways if he wasn’t working this job he’d have no idea what to do: he wasn’t exactly an academic and he never fancied putting himself in thousands of dollars of student debt. So all he has to his name is a high school diploma and recommendation from a fast food job he worked in between his junior and senior year. 

He strongly guesses that Veronica has never had the same struggle at choosing a career, she probably came out the womb already with stocks in her grandfather's company, Lodge records was practically ingrained into her DNA at this point. 

Seriously, they were the same age and whilst Archie spends most of his time getting coffee, she’s the one receiving the said coffee he has to collect. 

She briskly walks past him and slaps a large stack of post-it notes onto the edge of his desk, narrowly avoiding the ring from his coffee cup and Archie instinctively starts sorting through the memos, organising them based on how much of a priority they are. 

She hasn’t even made it through her office door before she’s primly calling “Andrews!”. 

He immediately stands from his chair and pretends to not see K.O rolling his eyes at how quick he responds to her voice, looks away when he starts imitating a bug being squashed.

Archie Andrews is not under Veronica Lodge’s stiletto’d heel okay? 

“Andrews” Veronica calls once again, the intonation in her voice suggesting she’s getting impatient, “can you come here please?” 

Archie sees K.O mouth ‘good luck’ as he goes to join her in her office, he’s hoping that she didn’t catch him rushing through the building to get here before she did, but Veronica Lodge has eyes in many places. 

He’s one of the few employees who’s ever had the unfortunate privilege of stepping foot into her private room. 

The first time he was allowed in he was pleasantly surprised by the decor, you’d expect it to be all clean lines, minimalistic and modern, but instead it’s covered in all sorts of random crap: paraphernalia from her favorite artists, photos of her family, stacks upon stacks of vinyls from many different artists throughout the years - many of which Archie hadn’t even heard of. 

She may be a park avenue princess but at least she has good music taste, that’s something no amount of money can buy. 

“Miss. Lodge?” he asks, alerting her of his presence, not wanting to make her jump. 

“I need you to do me a huge favor”, she asks not even looking at him, eyes focused on her desk sifting through the many documents that lay there, he knows she must be having a stressful day because she only ever wears her hair up in one of those twisty bun things when she’s under duress. 

She doesn’t wait for his reply before continuing. 

“I’m supposed to have a meeting with that artist we’ve just signed… Fangs I believe his name is, now whilst I’m partial to a casual meeting at a quaint little place like Serendipity’s, I can already tell by this guys bandana and lack of haircut that a local dive bar is much more his speed, and obviously I would never step foot into a place like that so I was wondering if you could perhaps indulge him?”. 

He realises he should be grateful for the chance to drink on the job (on the company’s dime he’s presuming as well) but all he can feel is utter disappointment. 

He had known Fangs in high school where they had both had some gigs at those dive bars Veronica had just stated she despised and they both had these wild dreams about the rockstar futures they were going to have… well, dream for Archie, it seems like Fangs had somehow managed to turn those said dreams into a reality, into a career. 

He was taken out of his trip down memory lane by Veronica clearing her throat pointedly. 

“Jesus, Andrews are you incapable of giving me an answer today?”

“No sorry, Miss Lodge” he managed to stammer whilst scratching the back of his head, “of course, I’ll do it.”

He tries to give her a confident smile, but he’s pretty certain it just comes across as slightly unhinged and unnerving.

“Great, and Mr. Andrews” she adds, her gaze finally lifting from her piles of paperwork up to his face, “when we meet our client let’s try not to have yesterday’s tie on, I’m not expecting Don Draper levels of business man mannerisms, but a little bit of professionalism might be appreciated.”

He’s saved from answering the mortifying question when K.O enters unannounced.

“I’m sorry G.I Joe,” K.O does nothing to correct her on the name, “but can’t you see we’re in the middle of something.” 

“Errr, yes miss. Lodge I understand that, but upstairs is asking to see you… and apparently it’s …….urgent.” 

It’s the first time Archie thinks he’s ever seen Veronica’s stoic look disappear from her face. 

Everyone knows that upstairs is code for mr. Lodge and mr. Lodge, or in other words Veronica’s father and Grandfather. 

“Right” she harrumphs, dusting down her already immaculate navy dress and Archie notices that her hand subconsciously drifts to the pearls around her neck, pulling at them as if they were on too tight.

Both Archie and K.O head for the door, but before Archie can escape Veronica is calling his name. 

“Not so fast Andrews,” she announces, the enthusiasm in her voice a hundred percent artificial, he can practically see her gritting her teeth as she speaks, “I have a feeling it could get ugly up there, and whilst I’m not in need of some muscle or a prince in shining armor, I do need somebody to take notes…”

He stares at her expressionlessly. 

“And that person would be you.” 

Archie is about to object, but for the third time today before he can answer, Veronica is already pushing him out the door, manicured hands on his chest. 

He stumbles his way to the elevator as she backs him into it, applying extra pressure to the ‘up’ button and worrying her lip as she does so. 

Her father and grandfather’s office is only a floor above so he isn’t too sure why they’re taking the elevator, he hazards a guess that it’s probably because she thinks if they take the stairs he’d make a run for it - any other employee would. 

If the reputation of Veronica Lodge is something to be wary of, that of her family is ten times worse. Jughead was constantly sending him links to articles from ‘The New Yorker’ and ‘The Washington Post’ that discussed the many controversies surrounding Lodge Records: fraud, embezzlement, stealing masters from artists and all of them circling back to the dodgy dealings of Hiram Lodge and his nefarious father. 

The elevator plays music from one of their more known artists (Sweetpea and the Serpents) as the Lodge’s believed everything could be used as advertisement and Archie wants to grab onto the railings and never let go when it finally stops. 

As soon as they step out into the corridor it becomes obvious to him that the Lodges are desperate to cling to their old money status and separate themselves from those who were decidedly new money. The white walls and glass doors seem at conflict with the oil paintings of the family that are hung up there, he couldn’t imagine a painting of himself hanging up at his apartment or childhood home back in Riverdale, all his photos (not paintings) are group shots but the Lodge’s seem to all be individual. 

The main office that he’s coaxed into by Veronica has a similar look with its dark wooden desks, clothbound books, leather chairs and Archie can easily imagine the suited middle aged men who come and sit in here, smoking cigars and drinking rum in the name of ‘business’. 

Archie decides to stay in the corner of the room, whereas Veronica stands directly in the middle: arms crossed and chin turned up slightly like a defiant child. Her father and grandfather sit at the other end of the desk muttering towards one another. 

“Daddy, Abuelito” she announces, clearly figuring out that they will not acknowledge her until she does first. 

“Ah mija” Hiram announces

Archie spends what feels like the next several minutes scribbling down notes as Veronica’s Dad drones on about how change is in the future for Lodge industries. Archie seriously hopes that Mr. Lodge doesn’t help the artists they’ve signed write lyrics, because his speech is entirely full of cliches and stolen lines from sport films

Veronica’s grandfather cuts his son off at around the seven minute mark, placing one swollen hand on his son's leg as he leans forward, wheezing. 

“I’m retiring Veronica.”

Archie whips his head up and his pen falters on the page, this is like major news for the tabloids and he doesn’t really know if he has the authority to write this down.

“Meaning, you’ll officially be promoted to CEO” her father chimes in, but Archie doesn’t miss the smug look on his face that seems awfully misplaced in a scenario where he’s supposed to be proud for his daughter. 

“Oh my goodness” Veronica whispers, hand planted firmly on her chest, “I’m so honored, I thought- I thought this position may go to Elio but-” 

Her grandfather starts to laugh, taking deep intakes of breath as he does so and holds a meaty hand out, sweat gathering on his purpling forehead, “Now, hold on Veronica don’t get ahead of yourself.” 

Archie’s sure that her and himself have equal looks of bewilderment on their face during this particular moment. 

“You see darling daughter” Hiram interrupts again, leaning back in his patent leather chair and glancing over at his own father, “The thing is, it’s stated in the business’ contract from 1917 that all CEO’s must be married in order to be one of the key stockholders of the company and you mi amor are very clearly still single.”

Archie’s face twists at the rampant misogyny he’s witnessing and the cruel nature he didn’t think was possible for a father to display towards his own daughter. 

What he considers even more impossible is the tears that are starting to well in Veronica’s eyes, “Daddy…” she quivers.

It’s extremely unnerving to see this normally confident woman quashed down to a helpless child, lip wobbling and hands scrunched into tiny fists, so foreign to him is the idea that one's own family could make them feel so small, when his own parents have been nothing but supportive. 

He pushes his own insecurities about his relationship with his own family to one side to focus on the telenovela that is being displayed in front of him. 

“Now don’t fret, we’re not gonna hand your role over to that idiot of a cousin of yours Elio… I am going to liquidate your assets and combine our positions into one, so we can, you know keep it in the family, and I become the company's prime CEO.”

“But you're not married either Daddy” Veronica is quick to intervene, but apparently Hiram has an answer for everything. 

“See this is why you have to read the fine print, our holier than thou ancestors didn’t think about the fine institution of divorce being readily available to their successors the contract states that the CEO has to have been married at some point… not permanently and not right now.”

When Veronica has no response Hiram stands up and reaches across the table to offer Veronica a pen, “So unless you have a secret vegas wedding or fiancee to reveal to us, I think it’s safe to say it’s a pleasure doing business with you.” All the whilst prodding a finger at a contract that’s been set out on the desk in front of her. 

  
  


Veronica tentatively holds out a hand ready to take the fountain pen from her fathers, and Archie wants to shout out that it looks like she’s literally making a deal with the devil when his phone buzzes in his pocket. 

Drooping the notepad onto a nearby bookshelf Archie fishes his phone out of his pants pocket and simultaneously profusely apologises to the Lodge’s and says goodbye to his job in his mind, because he’s definitely just been fired. 

Through the cracked screen he just manages to make out Jughead’s text:

_ Bro, I don’t know how tmz gets the news so quickly but am I right in hearing that the godfather (get it, it’s a pun on grandfather) has retired maybe you can get Sansa Stark out of your hair now that the rest of house of Stark is leaving.  _

He’s desperately trying to decipher Jughead’s pop culture reference but all he can focus on is the six eyes that are roughly worth a billion dollars combined peering at him, suspectedly Mr. Lodge and Hiram are looking at him with pure disgust, but Veronica’s eyes are glinting with something akin to the look on her fathers face just two minutes ago. 

“It’s funny you say that” she chuckles, pretending to bashfully tuck a piece of stray hair behind her ear that doesn’t exist, she batters her eyelashes towards her family members and gestures a hand towards Archie, “I would like to introduce you to my fiancee… Archibald Andrews.”

What the fuck. 


	2. Day zero to Day one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In a totally expected move I’m uploading this chapter way earlier than I thought ...

“I would like to introduce you to my fiancé… Archibald Andrews.”

Veronica would honestly be offended at Archie Andrews look of pure terror at the very prospect of being engaged to her, if she didn’t realise that the idea of marriage is probably horrific to every twenty something seemingly bachelor-esque man, unless that marriage was to like Mila Kunis or something. 

She’s also quite smug (and amused) at the twin looks of horror on her father and Abuelito’s face, after years and years of passing Veronica back and forth from the many,  _ many,  _ single socialites in the city she finally finds a man and it’s one who earns in a year what she probably does in a day. 

In the first expected move of the day, Hiram’s look of shock quickly fades into his regular one of indifference, he drags his hand down his face and just like that all of the room's attention is on him once more. 

“Now here’s the thing I don’t quite comprehend” he announces slowly, finger wagging over the desk like some sort of noir detective, only thing missing a pack of Marlboros and a fedora, “How come  _ my  _ only daughter is getting married and I had no clue? Hmm” 

She bristles at the way he over enunciates ‘my’, letting Veronica know that even if she’s engaged to someone, she’ll always belong to him- blood is thicker than the ink on a marriage certificate after all. 

Her skin has already erupted into goosebumps, but she’s sure they must intensify when the arm of Archie wraps around her waist. She’s glad that if she has to have a fake husband she’s at least chosen a guy who’s respectful, her dress has two panel cutouts on the side and she realises immediately that whilst his hand is comfortably sat on her material clad hip, his thumb is outstretched in an attempt to avoid her bare skin. 

Archie clears his throat before addressing the two men in front of him, “Well the thing is Mr.- Can I call you Hiram?”

“Mr. Lodge is fine.”

Veronica has to stifle a laugh, and involuntarily turns her head into Archie’s shoulder, she doesn’t know whether that was his attempt at undermining her father or he really is that naive, but it was the most bothered she’s seen her father in a long time. 

“Okay...Mr. Lodge” Archie replies, nervously glancing around the office and Veronica decides that he really is that incapable of reading a room, “the reason me and your daughter have been so secret about our relationship… and uh, engagement is because we didn’t want people knowing that I was dating the boss.”

Neither Hiram nor her Grandfather look too convinced, which is pretty understandable considering Veronica has spent the majority of her dating years bringing back plenty of men and women from all walks of life to try and piss of her family, it’s safe to say a secretary is not the most controversial person she’s ever been with… a professional NBA player, that’s closer to the mark. 

“And obviously that normally wouldn’t be a big deal or anything” he’s quick to add she can practically see a light bulb going off in his head, and she is seriously dreading what he’s about to say next, “but with me getting a record deal and everything, we didn’t want the rest of the employees to think Ronnie was playing favorites… didn’t we not,  _ babe _ .”

He’s looking her dead in the eyes, and not exactly in a loving way when he says this last part, and she can’t believe that even in her fake relationships she’s been given ultimatums. 

“Precisely.” she says, voice teetering on shrill, and teeth gritted so hard she’s probably going to have to visit her dentist after this awful conversation is over with, she also figures that if he can give her the abhorrent nickname of  _ ‘Ronnie’  _ that makes her sound like a balding guy who works at a car dealership she can come up wit her own embarrassing name for him: 

“That’s exactly what me and my Archiekins were thinking.” 

her hands slide underneath his work blazer, in what seems like a loving gesture- in reality she uses it as an excuse to pinch his abdomen as a form of revenge and relishes when he jumps slightly. 

That’s what he gets for springing that foul name on her like that, and then expecting her to not automatically grimace in response. 

  
  


Hiram seems slightly more convinced of the idea now, but then his eyes float down to her hand, and more importantly the absence of a ring. 

Archie jumps in once again, “and you know how particular our Ronnie can be”he jokingly says whilst squeezing her side and Veronica forces out a laugh hoping they’re pulling off the role of the doting and teasing couple, “there’s no way I’d attempt to buy an engagement ring without her own approval.”

“I doubt you could afford the type of ring my daughter would want Mr. Andrew’s.”

“Daddy!” Veronica gasps, stepping forward feeling oddly protective over her fake lover. 

“It’s alright Ronnie, he’s not wrong we’ve discussed this fact many times before, we can’t get offended when other people bring it up.” 

He says so whilst grabbing her hand and tugging her back slightly so she falls back in line with him, and she’s so bewildered at how well he’s dealing with the situation… better than she is truthfully. 

“Apologies to my future son-in-law” Her father retaliates, arms up in false surrender- as  _ if _ that would ever happen, Hiram Lodge never backs down from anything. 

Both Archie and Veronica curtly nod in response, she realises that they’re still holding hands and despite the chill of the office, where their skin touches seem to burn. She still doesn’t let go. 

There’s a tense silence, and Veronica dares to let her eyes wander over to the door thinking that an escape might be possible, when Hiram takes in a deep breathe: 

“Well to celebrate my daughter’s engagement I certainly think that a vacation is in order, we have a humble little place in the bahamas that I think would suffice for immediate friends and family.” 

She rolls her eyes at the prospect that their 16 bedroom mansion is a quaint little time-share apartment her father is making out to be, she may be spoilt and privileged but Veronica lodge never dangles her wealth in front of others… it’s tacky and desperate, like her father she supposes.

Once her disapproval of her father’s gloating settles, she’s quickly greeted with that familiar sensation of dread that she’s becoming readily accustomed to washing over her. If she spends a week with just her father and Archie, he’ll catch onto the fact their relationship is a sham faster than you can say ‘annulment’. 

Not only is Veronica getting rapidly used to the feeling of fear, she is also getting used to her personal assistant objecting to everything her father has to say.

And that is something she doesn’t mind getting used to. 

“I’m sorry sir, that won’t be possible because me and your daughter had made plans to visit my parents in Riverdale over the next week as it’s my fathers birthday and I wanted to introduce them to my fiance too, you see with how quickly our relationship has came about none of my family know that we’re together either.” 

She can see her father mulling this information over (her abuelito seems more interested in his glass of whiskey at this point) and she realises that they’ll be stuck in this proverbial tennis match until the end of time unless she can think of a way to essentially get themselves thrown out of the room like teenagers in a principal's office.

“I’m so excited to meet your family baby” she whispers, lowering her voice. 

Veronica leans up on her tiptoes (even with her Louboutins on) to kiss him, having never done this with him before she’s not too sure how far she’s going to have to reach so she decides to yank him down by his tie as well. It’s pretty messy for both a first kiss and a one in front of traditional family members, but once his lips are on hers she quickly moves her hands from his tie, down his torso and round his belt loops whilst his stay securely on her face. 

Despite how good, and well  _ hot  _ the kiss is she doesn’t actually want to cause her grandfather to have a heart attack, so before tongues can start wandering and hands can roam even further she pulls away and shoves Archie back slightly trying to keep some semblance of distance between the two. 

Even though the kiss was short, her Ruby Woo lipstick had still managed to make its way across his lips and face, so to further rub salt into the wound she licks her thumb before trying to smear the scarlet red (that might as well be a scarlet letter) off his face. Whilst she doesn’t actually succeed in removing the said lipstick from his face, she most definitely succeeds in making her father vastly uncomfortable. 

“So” Archie begins clearing his throat, “I’m guessing my week off will still be paid right?”. 

Veronica snorts and heads straight for the door before any other interrogations from her father can begin. 

“Wait.” Hiram calls out sternly causing Veronica to stop in her tracks and Archie’s cheeks start to turn the same colour as both his hair and her lipstick that’s all over his face.

“You two should enjoy your time in Creekdale” Veronica lets out a sigh, knowing fine well that her father is aware that Archie’s hometown is actually called Riverdale, “now whether you enjoy that time as a committed couple or simply gallivanting through the streets because this relationship is all one big scam I am not too sure. What I do know is that if this engagement is a lie, Mija I will have you immediately fired for fraud and expunged from my will… and for you Mr. Andrews I will have you blacklisted from every record company in the western world.”

Archie throws Veronica an inquisitive look, but Hiram deciphers it before she gets the chance. 

“Oh please” he scoffs, “everyone knows that a guy in their mid-twenties working as a PA for someone their own age in the music industry is just  _ pining  _ for a chance at a record deal.”

It’s the first time throughout the whole ordeal that she sees Archie’s facade drop and he looks genuinely wounded. 

“I will see you next week: Daddy” she says nodding in his direction, fist already on the ornate doorknob, “Abuelito.” nodding in his direction too. 

Her father can insult her choices and lifestyles all he wants, what she will not have is him offending a perfectly good man who is seemingly doing her the world's biggest favor. 

Archie scampers after her and just manages to slip through the door before it bangs shut richoching down the empty corridors like a shot from a rifle, slightly ironic considering Veronica feels like she just dodged a major bullet… or ten.

When she’s out in the corridor, met with the stares of her ancestors via the portraits that hang on the wall Veronica still feels a little shaken by the scenario she’s just landed herself in, but overall she feels like it could have been  _ a lot  _ worse. 

Now that she’s away from her father she finds it easy to regain her composure, Archie however looks even more terrified, and the color in his cheeks has completely drained leaving him a very unpleasant pasty shade. 

“We can’t do this, we have to come clean, we-” he urges, eyes pleading. 

Her eyes rapidly scan the floor making sure nobody heard what he said as she makes a harsh shushing sound. 

Just like 20 minutes earlier (when she was a single and most definitely not a betrothed woman) she drags him over to the elevator, and this time he willingly gets into it once the doors open. 

Clearly aware of what her next move is he presses the emergency stop button, with a bit too much force- there really wasn’t the need to be that dramatic she thinks. 

“Veronica.” he says sternly, and she thinks it’s the first time he’s ever directly called her by her first name, it’s normally ‘Ms. Lodge’ or in recent developments: the dreaded ‘Ronnie’. 

‘We can’t do this” he says again, an extra element of pleading to his voice this time. 

She folds her arms across her chests and squints in his direction, he was seemingly on board with the idea five minutes ago, he seriously can’t expect her to go back to her father’s office and declare it all false, that would not only cost Veronica her job, but more importantly her pride and dignity which is already feeling pretty bruised. 

“And why praytell can’t we? You seemed pretty okay with this plan when you had your arm securely around my waist.” 

He’s looking at her like she’s insane and his hand comes up to pinch his brow, like the situation is giving him an actual migraine and he’s trying to ease the pain. 

He lets out a stuttery breath and rakes his fingers through the orange strands and Veronica wonders if that's his natural colour, she’s never kissed a ginger, has tried every other flavor of boy though. 

“Are you insane? Didn’t you hear your father in there?” he says, voice rising with every word, “If we do this… I’ll lose my job, I’ll lose the only thing in life i’m actually passionate about.” 

“You’re passionate about being my personal assistant?” 

Oh God, she thinks, she’s gonna be so pissed at herself if she’s chosen a stalker to be her husband. 

“I  _ meant  _ a chance at a record deal.” 

“Oh yeah about that” she exclaims, hands clasped together, “your idea that we were keeping our relationship a secret was pure  _ genius _ , very Pacey and Joey season 6 during his stockbroker era.” 

“No, no, no, no.” he mutters and she throws him a quizzical look. 

“If I was going to do this” he pauses, “Which I’m not, by the way. I would want a contract, as in written on paper, a record deal, for at least an EP.” 

“Fine. Done.” 

“No” he says, shaking his head erratically, “not fine, because I’m. Not. Doing. It.” 

“Why not?” she responds flippantly 

“Because Veronica, not all of his have the privilege or wealth to be able to lose our jobs… which is what will happen to me if this whole thing gets found out, which it inevitably will.” 

“Oh please” she huffs, “If we don’t get married I’m certainly getting fired, and without me here do you honestly think my father is going to keep you around as a personal assistant even after you tried to help his daughter take him down.” 

His face looks stumped at this accusation and Veronica backs him into the corner of the elevator and prods him squarely in the center of his chest with her manicured nail. 

“You Archie Andrews, need me, just as much” she haughtily laughs “maybe even more, than I need you. Don’t you see this is a  _ beneficial  _ partnership for the both of us.”

She’s learning quickly that Archie is the type of guy that wears his emotions on his face, because she can see him weighing the pro’s and con’s of the situation in his mind. 

He covers her hand with his over his heart, in an oddly intimate gesture but before she has time to interpret it, he’s removing her palm from his shirt and placing it back to her side. 

He stays silent for a moment or two longer, she can see the movement of his adam apple and it’s possibly the first time that Veronica is realising the gravitas of what she’s asking him, not everyone is used to throwing their relationships around like a business transaction like she is. 

“I guess I’m in then” he says with a certain air of defeat laced throughout his voice. 

Veronica was never a traditionalist when it came to love and relationships, but she never thought that her future husband would feel so sad about marrying her, in fact she always thought it would be the other way round. 

“Great.” she announces, trying to fill the elevator with some sort of vitality again, “fantastic, however as your wife, I am inclined to spend the next week revamping your wardrobe… think of a makeover scene from an early 2000’s movie, but you know with designer clothes.”

“Oh, no. That whole thing about visiting Riverdale for my parents birthday wasn’t a rouse, and if we’re actually going to get married for whatever length of time, you will have to meet my family.” 

Crap. 

She hadn’t thought of that. Veronica excels in many things, small talk with close loved ones, not so much. 

“So those are your terms for this marriage” she proposes, taking a few steps back realising that now she’s convinced him to participate in this escapade, there’s not actually any reason to be standing this close to him, “An EP deal and a trip to your hometown for the week?”

“Pretty much… oh, and we have to bring my roommate Jughead with us, but it’s totally cool we can tell him about the plan he won’t say.”

She doesn’t know whether to focus on the fact that someone their age still has a roommate, or that the said roommate is called  _ Jughead _ , so she merely nods in agreement. 

“And” he adds quickly, “you have to buy me a new phone.” 

“A new phone?”

“Yeah I smashed the screen on mine this morning.”

“And what does that have to do with moi?”

“Nothing, but as my wife i’m sure it says somewhere in the vows that you’re supposed to provide for me or something.” 

She doesn’t really want to get into the fact that those sacred vows also mention that they should be together until death, and a couple hundred dollars on a new phone isn’t really out of her budget so she acquiesces. 

“Okay and a new phone. Got it.” 

She formally sticks a hand out for Archie to shake before announcing, “pleasure doing marriage with you Mr. Andrews- lodge, and before you say anything we’re both double barrelling our names, my name is simply worth far too much to just throw away.” 

“I’m sorry, but my dad raised me to be a gentleman, there is no way that I can in good conscience get engaged through a handshake.”

He starts to get down on, one knee and veronica is quick to interrupt: 

“Archie this really isn’t necces-,”

“I mean I’m also pretty sure my Dad, never imagined that I’d be proposing in an elevator as part of a scheme to take down my boss’ father but… Veronica Lodge, I don’t have a wedding ring, or anything we could use as a wedding ring, but will you marry me.”

Veronica seriously hopes that there’s no cameras in this elevator, because if anyone ever sees this she’s going to be mortified, there’s nobody even in here, apart from herself and Archie and this is already the singular most embarrassing moment of her life. 

“Archie. Stand. Up.” she hisses 

She sees him eyeing the emergency button and darts forward to cover it, but he beats her and she stumbles slightly when they start moving again. 

“I say you have approximately ten seconds to say yes before these doors open and reveal me proposing to you in front of our entire floor.” 

“Oh my God. Yes I’ll marry you” she shouts, eyes covering her face, not wanting to see any more of this nightmare of being proposed to in a work elevator. 

Archie has a smile on his face, clearly amused at the fact he’d managed to make her squirm. 

The smile quickly fades when the doors begin to slide open and he’s still on one knee.

This time she’s quick enough to reach a hand out and help haul him up before anyone can see. 

And just like that Veronica Lodge is engaged to her personal assistant. 

  
  
  
  
  


  
She’s leaning on one of her  _ many  _ suitcases when Archie finally pulls up outside of her apartment building. 

Veronica thinks about lifting his wage even higher when she sees the state of the vehicle he drives, she has to say vehicle because it isn’t even a car- it’s a truck. Although Veronica doesn’t personally drive she is impressed with how he’s managed to maneuver this big red monstrosity around the streets of New York, in her many years in the city she’s seen multiple drivers struggle to get saloon cars around some of the blocks in the city. 

However she’d still rather be in a saloon than whatever the hell this is. 

His head and one of his arms makes its way outside the window, it’s a little strange seeing Archie in non- work attire: he’s wearing a flimsy green henley that lets her see every plane of his body and she jumps a little when he finally speaks, too focused on admiring his physique now that it’s not hiding behind an off the rack blazer. 

“You ready to go Veronica? I don’t think I’m actually allowed to park here”

“This eyesore shouldn’t be allowed to park anywhere in this city” she retorts, leaving her bags behind her as she makes her way round to the other side of the truck. 

Archie looks at the bags for a second before scrambling out the car door and taking them to the back of the truck, she’s not too pleased with the way he throws them in the back with reckless abandon, especially considering one of those empty Chanel suitcases are probably worth more than the truck itself. 

One of the red doors sticks when she tries to open it, she tries again with a little more pressure and nearly falls onto the road when it finally frees. 

Immediately regaining composure, she peers inside of the truck: expecting to see multiple shades of brown and beige in the interior (which she does) but is surprised to see another man sat on the bench. 

“You must be the boss” he says. 

The way this man (who is way too old to be wearing a beanie and a flannel shirt by the way) looks her up and down, eyes not roaming her body, but instead her dress and shoes and pearls lets Veronica know that they probably aren’t going to become best of friends during this trip. 

“I am.” she replies nodding firmly, refusing to break eye contact, “Veronica Lodge and you must be forsythe.”

“Most of my friends call me Jughead.” 

“Right but we’re not exactly friends are we, so I will stick with Forsythe thank you.” 

He seems amused by her prim response. 

Veronica extends out her hand and asks if he would be so kind as to help her into the truck, since its elevated, he rejects her favor and scoffs at the sight of the ring on her wedding finger.

“You know I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to have diamonds on wedding rings, not rocks.” 

She;s pretty sure that she has just flashed the whole of the upper east side getting into the truck thanks to her tight tweed skirt, and looks down frowning at the ring. The jewel certainly is a little more gauche than a one she typically would have wanted but anyways, it’s extremely difficult to find a ring in under 24 hours that isn’t straight from a display shelf. 

“And I’m sure gentlemen are supposed to help ladies into cars, looks like we’re both trendsetters Mr. Jones.” 

He squints his eyes and smiles at her sharply, and she smirks at the fact his facial expression is clearly a compromise since he can’t think of a remark. 

The thud of the truck lid takes them both out of their staring competition as Archie makes his way back to the driver's seat. 

He turns to them both and opens his mouth clearly ready to introduce them to one another, the awkward tension that fills the cramped front of the vehicle obviously tells them that they’ve had their own introductions… and Veronica guesses that he can tell it didn’t exactly go swimmingly, in fact it swam as well as someone with a concrete block tied to their legs. Instead he just starts the truck without saying a word. 

They left her apartment in that little sweet spot between morning and lunch rush hours meaning the traffic isn’t too bad for New York. 

She’s trying to catch up on her work emails, yet ten minutes in she has to give up as her phone is clogged with congratulations messages from friends and family- clearly the workings of her father trying to rile her up. 

Archie and Forsythe are arguing over the radio and she seriously wonders if this  _ Jughead  _ enjoys arguing with people since that’s all he seems capable of doing. Archie is whining that he wants to listen to the new Wheezer album (and seriously for someone working in the music industry she would think he has better music taste than Wheezer) and she’s not too sure what Jughead is arguing for probably his own slam poetry or something. 

Not being able to take the gym locker behavior anymore, Veronica clears her throat to demand their attention. 

“So boys, which airport are we off too, My Archiekins never mentioned any plane tickets.” 

She knows that Jughead is aware of their marriage sham, but she figures she should get used to calling Archie anything that isn’t Mr. Andrews- if the way Archie’s face blushes at the comment she figures he needs to get used to the pet names too. 

Plus, the way Jughead rolls his eyes and scoffs at the name is an added bonus. 

“You don’t get to Riverdale by plane, Veronica” Archie informs her, thumb tapping an idle rhythm onto the steering wheel as he waits for the light in front to go green. 

“I’m sorry but we are not travelling to upstate New York in this death trap, it looks like it can barely drive more than ten miles !” 

Archie chuckles at the panic that she’s trying to stop from seeping into her voice, “Oh no, you’re totally right there’s no way this scrap of metal would be able to make it to Riverdale and back in like six pieces nevermind one.” 

“Right okay, then how  _ are  _ we getting to Riverdale, because I don’t really think stiletto’s are the right walking shoes to cover half a state.” 

He looks at Jughead playfully before kinking an eyebrow at her “Ah you’ll see Ronnie, your horse and carriage awaits.” 

She spends the rest of the drive bickering with Forsythe when he makes a comment asking if she thought they were flying privately and she responded that she doesn’t see what’s wrong with that, and she’s pretty sure Karl Marx was brought up like at least three times during the span of the conversation/ debate/ argument. 

In fact she’s so focused on their little tete-a-tete that she doesn’t realise that Archie has pulled into a crumbling tarmac car park, dust and little bits of gravel flying everywhere when he puts the truck in reverse. 

She looks out of the dirty front mirror and is met with rows and rows of buses, each one adorned with adverts from at least a decade ago. 

“A bus.” she remarks turning to the men (glorified boys really) in front of her and throwing them a pointed look. 

“Yep” Archie nods, popping the p and turning the engine off as he does so. 

He leaves the drivers side and immediately makes his round to that of the passengers, opening the tricky door with finesse and offering her a hand to help her out. 

“Be careful, when you step down, there’s a lot of potholes and cracks on the ground, and I’m good friends with your accountant so I know how much your shoes cost, I’d hate for them to break. ”

She places her hand in his and has to jump slightly as she clambers out of the truck, he places a hand on her waist so he can shuffle round to lock the truck door- she didn’t even realise they still made cars that manually lock. 

It’s an odd sight to see her hand in someone else's, ring glinting in the early afternoon light. It’s the first time that the situation actually feels real, the knowledge that in the foreseeable future she will be married washes over her in a not so comforting way and just like every other relationship she’s been in she gets the urge to run- fast. 

However, it’s funny how quickly she’s got accustomed to the weight of the ring on her hand so much so it was a shock to see it on her finger, as much as she hates to admit it Forsythe was right it certainly isn’t a subtle diamond, especially not compared to her small hands. She highly doubts if a “rock” like this was situated atop slightly larger hands, or like really larger hands such as-  _ oh.  _

“Archie!” she says pulling her hand away from his so she can rummage through her bag, “I haven’t given you your ring yet!”

She pulls out a velvet box and opens it, “I’m not too sure about your stylings so I thought the standard Cariter would suffice.”

Archie looks a little taken back by the gesture, and she guesses that he just had the exact same revelation that she did.

“Wow, Veronica thanks.” he says scratching the back of his neck, muscles in his arm rippling as he does so, “I hadn’t even thought of stuff like this, and this ring… I mean it’s probably worth more than my truck.” 

She takes a look at the truck and then back to the ring “It’s definitely worth more than your truck, I think the rings you win at the arcade are worth more than that … what did you call it  _ scrap of junk metal.” _

He laughs slightly, but still doesn’t take the ring so she takes it out the box herself. 

“Anyway, what kind of fiance would I look like if you turned up to your parents, engaged with no ring… god forbid they would think we eloped.” 

She grabs his left hand and slides the ring on, first pleased with herself that she seemingly got the right side, only after she hears his intake of breath does she realize the intimacy of the situation. 

Suddenly desperate to dispel the tension of the situation she forces out a chuckle, “I mean not that first putting your ring on in a bus parking lot is much better.”

“Or being involved in a false wedding at all” Archie smirks, twisting the ring down past his knuckle to the base of his finger. 

“Yeah” she sighs, “yeah that too.”

Having retrieved his only bag from the trunk, Jughead (they had reached a treaty on the name during the ride over, if she ditched Forsythe he’d stop calling her the Goddaughter.) breezes past the two of them, almost knocking Veronica over as he hoists his backpack onto his shoulder. 

He’s already halfway towards what is presumably their bus when he calls out that he calls dibs on the aisle seat and Archie groans. 

  
  
  
  


Despite the cramped and enclosed seats of the bus, Archie decides to sit in the middle, claiming not to be able to deal with their bickering anymore, meaning that Veronica is stuck with the window seat. 

She doesn’t mind it actually, it’s very rare that she travels anywhere out of NYC not on a plane, so it feels like years since she’s been on the highway, watching idly as different mirages of green pass her eyes. She’s also incredibly thankful to herself that she wore stockings today, as the thought of her bare legs against the decade old scratchy material of the seat makes her skin crawl.

They mostly sit in silence, the closer they get to Riverdale the more Veronica’s doubts and regrets kick in, and by the way that Archie can’t stop playing with the engagement band she knows that the feeling is reciprocated. 

Fixing the situation the only way she knows how, she turns to him, “So what kind of gift can I buy the in-laws in Riverdale, I want to make a good first impression”

She secretly hopes that Archie’s parents are really terrible people, like worse than her own because she really doesn’t want to drag innocent, good people into this tangled web of hers. 

“I don’t really think Riverdale is the place for shopping Veronica, there’s a bakery a few boutiques and a diner called Pops-” 

“-whose burgers I’ve been dying to try ever since me and Arch became roommates” Jughead interrupts. 

Veronica slumps down in the plastic chair a little, her plan to woo Archie’s parents via gift giving ruined from the get go. 

Jughead scoffs, and swallows his mouthful of unbranded chips he got from the vending machine at the station before continuing, “I wouldn’t worry Veronica, Archie’s parents are bound to love you, by the sounds of it they’ll just be glad that Archie is dating again apparently it’s been years since he’s known the warm embrace of a woman, isn’t it bud” he finishes, patting him on then back in fake sympathy. 

The way Jughead nonchalantly sits back in his chair whilst Archie bristles at the comment has Veronica intrigued to say the least. 

“Ahhhh” she says, elbow on the armrest in between them, placing her chin in her palm and cocking her head slightly, “had our heart broken by a first love and never recovered Archiekins.” 

She figures the awful nicknames are acceptable when teasing. 

He stares blankly ahead as he replies, “other way round.” 

Oh, now she’s intrigued, if it’s Archie who’s the apparent heartbreaker she wonders why he looks like he’s going to pop a vein on his neck. 

“Hmmmm” she replies, leaning against the window of the bus, “you’re a little more dangerous than I thought.. All boy next doorish but secretly breaking hearts.”

“Low blow Veronica” Jughead whistles, before pointing a finger at her that she pushes away, and turns to Archie who still looks stone faced, “you know maybe I do like your wife.”

“Fiance” her and Archie reply at the same time. 

  
  
  


If Veronica thought the bus station in the city was depressing, the one in Riverdale is a whole new level of sad, it’s essentially a glorified shack with a phone booth and a clock. 

Luckily, despite his red hair Archie didn’t really have a bad temper and wasn’t one to hold grudges, or so she was learning. Not five minutes after her comment he was offering her a peanut butter cup, Jughead however was not offered any of the candy and Archie informed Veronica to never offer Jughead food because he was like a stray and would definitely grab more than was welcomed.

As Archie and Jughead unloaded Veronica’s bags from the bus she wandered around aimlessly trying to find any sort of phone service, to no such luck.

“What did you need service for?” Archie asked, coming to stand beside her. 

“I am  _ trying _ to book us an uber or a lyft, because there is no way I’m walking into town, these roads haven’t been paved since the war” she replied, still moving her phone up and down at random angles. 

“Oh yeah, you’re not gonna find any ubers around here, but don’t worry I rang the local cab service last night to pick us up in ten.” 

“Ringing up a cab? Twenty-four hours in advance? Next thing you know you’re gonna tell me that you still have a local library with computers you have to put quarters in for internet access.” 

“Well… yeah.” 

“I feel like I’ve stepped back into the nineties, are you sure there isn’t a neighboring town called Twin Peaks?”

“Honestly Veronica” he started, wheeling one of her suitcases to the edge of the road, she winced as the bottom scraped along the gravelly floor, “It’s more like the fifties, or actually the nineties could work, it’s honestly a weird sort of timeless place… you’ll see.”

  
  


Once in the cab, their driver informed them that the main town road was shut so it would probably take them at least an hour before they made it into Riverdale. 

Much to Veronica’s (and Archie’s) dismay, Jughead found it riveting to point out all of the neighboring town and street names that seemed way to Americana to be true” 

“Arch, they all sound like they’re out of a book my publishers would reject”

“Jug, you literally know that I live on Elm Street, I don’t know what else you were expecting.” 

Veronica lets out a tiny snort at this, and Archie throws her a glare that tells her she’s not helping. 

“Oh come on, no way is there both an Elm Street and a Cloverfield Lane in the same town.” 

She rolls her eyes at this one “I’m sorry but you definitely just made that one up, I hate to inform you Jughead but you need to get more inventive with your fictional street naming, they can’t all be fictional.” 

“Didn’t you just see the massive signpost?” Jughead asked, inquisitive tone, and thumb thrown over his shoulder pointing in the vicinity of the sign they just passed. 

“She doesn’t have her glasses on Jug, she won’t be able to see shit”

Her look of intolerance towards Jughead quickly fades into pure shock at the fact Archie knows she wears glasses, nobody knows that she wears glasses- and she tells him that. 

“Your optician rang one time about your contact prescription and I’ve seen you sometimes on late nights wearing glasses” he shrugs, “and I figured since you thought we were flying here that you wouldn’t want to wear your contacts.” 

Heat rises up her neck at the thought of anyone knowing something about her she didn’t want to reveal, hating the feeling of being vulnerable she swiftly changes the topic of conversation to which hotel they’ll be staying at and to see if she can check into their room online… once she gets service. 

“No hotels in Riverdale either, so you’ll be staying at Dads” seeing the look of pure horror on her face he speeds up the pace and holds his hands up, “don’t worry about sleeping arrangements, you can take the spare room and Jug will have my old one, and I’ll just sneak over to his room every night. “ 

It’s safe to say the look of horror on her face doesn’t budge, in fact it might have even gotten worse and even Jughead’s face looks dubious at Archie’s plan, or maybe he just doesn’t want to top and tail with Archie as a grown man. 

“Archie!” she shouts whilst hitting them on the arm, he frowns and rubs the spot with the palm of his hand, clearly not expecting her to use so much force, “How on earth are we supposed to convince your parents we’re a couple when we’re surrounded by them the entire week? Did you think of that?” 

“Actually it’s just my Dad, my parents are divorced.”

She rakes a hand through her hair and groans into the crook of her elbow, “See, I didn’t even know that your parents were divorced - Archie I don’t even know anything about your actual life, nevermind our pretend one- for Gods sake I don’t even know what your middle name is.”

“I don’t have one.”

“Right okay, good. Something I don’t have to stress about remembering, mines C-” 

“Cecelia, yeah I know.” 

Of course he does. 

“Pendelton if you were curious.” 

“Shut it Jones.”

“Seriously Archie” Veronica says softenting her tone from the one she just used with Jughead, “did you not think this through, you’re going to have to spend an entire week lying to your parents” 

“I’m sorry Veronica” he huffs, tone of his voice indicating that what he’s about to say isn’t going to be all that apologetic, “but there really isn’t anywhere else to say, plus I haven’t been back to town in years and when I had to tell my parents -over the phone by the way- that I was engaged to a girl they had never met, they wanted to do all they could to get to know you.”

“Of course yeah, that- that makes sense I just never thought…” she lets the sentence drift off, not wanting to reveal that this possibility never even crossed her mind considering her own parents weren’t exactly the welcoming type. 

She glances at her phone and sees that they’ve been in the car for around twenty five minutes/ “Okay we have what another forty minutes give or take a few left in this cab, I’m sure we can come up with a relationship backstory in that time that will be believable to your parents.” 

Firstly Veronica has to read the cliffs notes on Archie’s life: she already knows he loves music, she can guess by his figure that he grew up playing sports, Jughead seems to be his only close friend but she guesses he has a large group of hometown friends that he’s just not that close too. 

Archie has to inform her about his parents- the fact they got divorced when he was sixteen and he cried for weeks, his mother (mary) lives in Chicago with her girlfriend Brooke but comes back to Riverdale every other weekend and his father (Fred) has stayed single ever since. He has no siblings or cousins and a dog named Vegas that his Dad looks after - he lets her know if she wants to get on his Dad’s good side befriending the golden retriever is the way to do so. 

Once she seems to know the basics of Archie’s life (chocolate over vanilla, boxing over football, Radiohead over Coldplay) they start trying to work out the dynamic of their relationship. 

She’s an early riser, whilst he likes to sleep in, he likes to stay in friday nights whilst she’s more likely to want to go out, they both find planned dates corny and would rather do something a little more lowkey, and that’s basically all they manage to establish when Archie’s phone rings. 

‘It’s my mom” he says, looking a little panicked, yet still quickly answering. 

Veronica can’t hear much of the phone call, she manages to pick up on a few words like “excited” and “chock lit shop” whatever the hell that means. 

Archie doesn’t say much either just hums in response and nods his head a few times, before he finally tells his mom he loves her and will see her soon before hanging up.

A pang goes through Veronica’s chest at the casual affection Archie seems to have with his parents even if they don’t see each other, whereas she works in the same building as her father and she doesn’t think he’s ever heard that four letter word leave his lips unless he’s talking about the prospect of firing someone. 

“My mom says she can’t wait to meet you… and Jughead” Archie explains to the both of them, “she also says that she wants us to get dropped off at Pops first before going to the house for my Dad’s birthday meal” he adds, saying the last part with an air of defeat. 

Veronica swallows the lump that has suddenly appeared in her throat, meeting Archie’s family in his childhood home is nerve wracking enough, but to do so in a restaurant, most likely in an enclosed booth with nowhere to escape and nothing but royalty free music and small talk filling the air is her worst nightmare. 

Before she has a chance to object, Archie tells the driver to drop the three of them off at Pop’s diner which is apparently just around the corner, which has Veronica feeling even more anxious as now there’s no time to prepare. 

She folds her hands and places them in her lap, the brochures in front of her suddenly very interesting. 

He nudges her knee with his, which must be quite difficult considering the very limited space in the back seats, he’d been sat bow-legged for most of the ride. 

“Look” he starts, “we clearly have enough information to fool my parents for the week, it’s not like we have to trick the entire town into thinking we’re engaged.” 

  
“I just hope your parents are gullible people.” 

“Not at all” he chuckles, “you have no idea how many times I got caught sneaking out of my room or skipping school as a teen.” 

“Really reassuring, thanks for that” she replies rolling her eyes. 

She’s almost certain Archie would have been one of those kids that everybody loved in high school. A star athlete who can play an instrument, probably had a lot of friends from a lot of different social groups too, he was definitely one of those freshmans who got to sign the seniors yearbooks, and then when he was a senior let the starstruck freshman sign his. 

She’d say that she can imagine he broke a lot of hearts too, but from the sounds of it, it seems like he was only responsible for one. Speaking of which, when she was being educated on the life of Archie Andrews he never brought up any of his exes, or that high school sweetheart of his that apparently ended in tragedy. 

The driver rounds a corner and goes to pull into the diner parking lot, that is overflowing with both cars and people milling around. 

“Yeah, about not having to trick the whole town Arch.” 

“I swear down my mom said it was only going to be us five otherwise I would have declined” Archie says leaning over the middle section of the car and through the front window. 

“Jesus christ Archie, how popular  _ is  _ your father?”

“He urm, nearly got elected mayor a few years back.” 

Veronica scrunches her eyes closed and slams the palm of her hand to her forehead, “fantastic” she mutters. 

Reluctantly the three young adults get out of the cab that’s pulled up at the side of the road since there’s no space left in the lot, and Veronica makes sure to give their driver a hefty tip, thinking about all the conversations he’s probably eavesdropped over in the past hour. 

Archie had mentioned that Jughead wasn’t great with new, or large groups of people so his look of nausea at their social situation is nearly as strong as that of Veronica and Archie’s - but not quite. 

A man and two women begin to approach them, wandering out the main door of the diner. The man looks a lot like Archie, just with a slightly receding hairline and soft creases around his eyes which she assumes is from many years of smiling, he’s wearing a parker, jeans and timberlands and his hands are awkwardly in his pockets, he’s the archetypal image of a father in every heartwarming christmas film Veronica’s pretended she’s never seen. Out of the two women, she presumes that the one on the left is Mary, her fiery curled hair the exact same shade as Archie’s and dressed in business attire- Archie had mentioned she was a lawyer, whilst the other woman who must be Brooke sports short blonde hair and is wearing just a simple leather jacket and pants. 

Archie jogs a few steps ahead to hug and greet both his parents and Veronica slowly follows suit. He seems to stay in Fred’s embrace longer, but when he’s finally free from his fathers hold Veronica extends her hand out and Fred lets out a whistle clearly noting the size of her ring ang Veronica blushes under the scrutiny. 

‘Mr. Andrews, so nice to finally meet you”

Archie’s Dad takes her hand and shakes it firmly, from the brief few seconds of contact she can feel how rough and calloused his hands are, cracked palms, covered in marks and cuts.

“No need to call me Mr. Andrews, Fred is fine, we are family after all” he offers with a small smile and Veronica is immediately overcome with the sensation to have this man feel proud of her even though she’s only known him for a matter of seconds, she also has the feeling this is how most people feel in the presence of Fred Andrews. 

“And Mary will do just fine as well love” Archie’s mother interjects. 

Veronica goes to reach a hand out to Mary but before she gets a chance to, she’s engulfed in a hug by Mary, that she doesn’t know how to respond to. 

Thankfully Mary only embraces her for a few seconds before releasing her, and Veronica is so overwhelmed by the sudden gesture that she doesn’t hear Mary’s general babble and excitement over her son’s engagement and how excited she is to have a daughter in the family now. 

So when Veronica absentmindedly nods as a response mashing her lips together, Mary’s disappointed look at her response is completely warranted. 

Whilst Veronica stands awkwardly with the other women, she overhears Archie talking to his Dad, Jughead still by his side. 

“Dad, I thought you said you were only having a small get together for your birthday this year?” Archie asks, a strained quality to his voice. 

“Well Arch it might be my birthday but they’re not here for me, they’re here for you- you know how fast gossip in a town like this travels, especially considering how long have been awaiting your return..”

Of course Veronica had to seemingly get herself engaged to the golden boy and presumably number one bachelor of the town, she would have had less attention drawn to her if she married that NFL player from a few years ago. 

“Can we not start this again” Archie pleads, “You know I would have came back sooner, but I could never fit it in because of work- that’s why I had you guys come up for all the holidays.”

As if the guilt of tricking this poor family into her marriage scheme wasn’t enough, she now has the added guilt of keeping this family away from their son and vice versa all of these years, too blinded by her ambitions to realise she hadn’t given Archie a break in years. 

Mary seems to stare at her whilst Fred says this and it quickly dawns on her that it’s not just her own self that thinks she’s too blame for separating Archie from his family; but his family actually does too. 

The worst thing is, they’re right.   
  


Not being able to stand the stare of a protective mother any longer, Veronica excuses herself from the conversation and tells Archie she’ll meet him inside the diner and get them some food too, before steps to the side so Mary can fully be introduced to Jughead- she has a feeling that mary would rather have Jughead as a son than her as a daughter right about now. 

“Ronnie wait!” Archie calls detaching himself from the conversation with his father. 

“Yes, babe” she responds, turning around, already having turned her back on this group of people she’s going to be stuck with for the next week (and foreseeable future once she’s married.) 

He comes to stand next to her, and looks at her waist hesitantly before placing a hand there, “I know you’ll probably just want to order the fries, but Pop uses peanut oil which I know you hate, if you get the onion rings though you can hardly notice.” 

“Duly noted” she nods and presses a kiss to his cheek before scurrying away from the group once more. 

As she’s walking up the pavement and through the lot she hears Fred ask “Son, you failed to tell me that your fiance is not only the boss you hate but Hiram Lodges’ daughter” at the same time she hears Mary accusatory tone announce “Surely she doesn’t expect us to carry her bags in does she?”. 

So much for first impressions 

When Veronica steps foot into this infamous diner/ chock lit shoppe (she still hasn’t clarified what that means yet) she immediately knows what Archie meant when he said Riverdale was a timeplace: The only way she can describe it is how the grunge era of the mid-90’s would interpret the 1950’s, way too many artificial lights and red vinyl plastered on every surface- whether it be the chairs, walls or countertops. 

The place is full of all sorts of people of all different walks of life, and she quickly realises that not only was Archie the golden boy of Riverdale High, but the Andrew’s family seems to be the golden family of Riverdale town- she distantly. wonders what it’s like to have a good reputation and family name.

Like highschool, everyone seems to be in certain cliques. There’s a group of rowdy twenty-somethings at a booth in the corner that she assumes is Archie’s old football friends, and the other corner there seems to be a group of fifty something year old women that she presumes to be Mary’s friends ogling the boys. 

The only person who doesn’t seem to be a part of this social regime, is a blonde sat at the counter up front. She looks pretty harmless and docile: blonde hair up in a tight pony, faded blue jeans from one too many washes and a dusky shirt adorned with a peter pan collar. Very girl next doorish. 

She carefully walks over and taps the blonde on the shoulder, who jumps up, engrossed in the book she was reading. 

“Sorry, is this seat taken- I don’t really know anybody here.”

The blonde immediately closes her book and offers Veronica a pleasant smile, the one thing Veronica can say about Riverdale so far is that they all have the welcoming smile down to a T. 

“No not at all, please sit” she says whilst patting the stool to her right, to which Veronica obliges.

“Betty cooper.” the blonde announces offering a hand for Veronica to shake. 

She’s just about to introduce herself, when a man walks past, face obscured by the many present boxes he was carrying- one of them emblazoned with a  _ ‘Happy 50th Birthday’  _ tag. 

‘Oh God” Veronica pales, “I feel so terrible I came empty handed, but it was a last minute plan, too last minute even for Magnolia cupcakes- I was hoping to get something in town, but apparently unless I was after a library book I wouldn’t have much luck.” 

Her new best friend giggles at this, and Veronica lets a smile appear on her own face. 

“I’ve known Mr. Andrews for years and I don’t think he’s ever expressed any sort of opinion on a material item, unless you count his vinyl collection so I wouldn’t worry too much.” 

They spend the next five minutes or so idly talking, she finds out the book that Betty is reading is a Toni Mitchell one, and Betty does her the massive favor of trying to explain who everyone at the party is and their relation to Fred, and by extension Archie. In between the conversations about who’s who Veronica also became privy to certain anecdotes about Archie through the years- when Betty points out Mr.Flute (His old music teacher) she tells the story of how Archie nearly got suspended one year for trying to break into the school and take all of the guitars, the teachers thought he was trying to steal them but it turns out he just wanted to replace the strings because most of them were broken 

The naiveness of the tale send the two girls into fits of giggles, and Veronica can’t believe people in this town still keep in contact with their high school music teachers.

“I’m desperately trying to keep up with all the twisted relations of this town, in the city we don’t even know who the people in the apartment next to us are so this is very new to me. If you don’t mind me asking, how do you know the Andrew’s. 

Betty’s eyes move from Veronica back to her book and her fingers play with the frayed edges. 

“Well his Dad and my mom used to go to high school together here in Riverdale, and moved in next to each other years later so I was Archie’s neighbor growing up… ” 

So Veronica’s girl next door comment was spot on actually. 

“And then we dated throughout the whole of high school up until the summer of senior year” she admits nodding her head and mashing her lips together. 

Veronica had accidentally just befriended the girl that had her heart broken by Archie Andrews- just her luck, or lack thereof. 

“Anyway” Betty continues shaking her head as if shaking away the memories, “that was years ago and I’m being so impolite, I didn’t catch your name, or how you know the Andrews either.” 

It’s a shame really, because she really liked this girl and she thinks that they had the potential to be good friends too, but as soon as she introduces herself and the words fiancé leave her lips she knows from previous experiences that the feminism will be paused and catty remarks will start. 

“I’m Veronica Lodge … Archie’s fiancé” she says and braces herself for impact. 

Bettys mouth forms the shape of an “o” and her pale cheeks heat up immediately. 

“Well, nice to meet you Veronica I’m glad Archie’s found someone as great as he is” she replies, no malice all genuine enthusiasm. 

Veronica blinks, taken aback by the kindness this stranger has given her over the past five minutes, even after she revealed she was engaged to her apparent high school sweetheart. 

She’s about to ask Betty  _ why _ she’s being so nice to her when the bell of the diner charms and in walks Archie, jughead and his parents in tow. 

The whole diner literally applauds as he steps through the door, and his nose scrunches in that particular way it does when he laughs. 

He’s busy clapping who she thinks is Reggie on the back when his eyes fall onto Betty. 

“Betty?” He asks in disbelief, moving away from Reggie. 

Reggie turns towards the others and sighs “always second to Betty Cooper boys.” 

Betty jumps down from the stool and clasps her hands together with a big grin on her face “long time no see!”.

Archie strides over to Betty and wraps his arms around her, hugging her so fiercely that her feet lift off the floor slightly. 

Jughead links his eyebrow at the scene, and Veronica is certain she’s pulling the same face, Archie might have real history with this girl compared to their artificial one but she is supposed to be this man's fiance and it certainly doesn’t look like it right now. 

She clears her throat rather harshly and Archie awkwardly sets Betty back to the floor, and as soon as they separate they both take several steps backwards trying to maximize the distance between them. 

“Veronica this is B-”

“We’ve already been introduced” she replies sharply, she’s more annoyed at Archie than Betty, Betty has no loyalty to her, they've only known each other less than a day, whereas Archie is supposed to be helping her keep up this facade.

“Right. Yeah, I see that. Anyway, Betty this is Jughead, and Jughead this is Betty.”

Betty goes to introduce herself to Jughead, but instead he moves right past her and straight to the counter to pick up her copy of Beloved. 

“Is this yours?” he asks, waving the book in her direction. 

Betty plucks the book from Jughead’s hands, “yes, it is, thanks.”

Jughead leans against the counter, elbows on either side nodding slowly and Veronica has to scoff at his dramatics. 

“You Betty Cooper, have taste.” he announces. 

“Yeah Jughead” Archie intervenes coming to stand by Veronica, who had left her place on the stool to let Jughead have room, “because people love to take taste advice from a grown man in a beanie.” 

He squints his eyes towards Archie, “you’ve been spending too much time with your fiance” 

And Veronica has to agree, that sounds exactly like a line she would say. 

She lets Archie go play catch up with his friends from high school and other town acquaintances, whilst Betty literally takes her by the arm and introduces her to most of the guests at the party. Where she quickly learns that Betty pretty much knows everyone in Archie’s life.

There seems to be mixed reactions to Veronica’s arrival in town and Archie’s life, her most positive interaction has to be with one of Archie’s high school buddies - Kevin. They talk animatedly about their favorite musicals when Veronica finds out that he’s now the school’s drama teacher and by the end of their conversation she’s promising to take him on a Broadway date whenever he’s in New York. 

Her most interesting interaction has to be with his other high school buddy Reggie, who’s first words are asking her if she’s single, and she’s still not sure whether he was joking or not. Betty’s response is to send a scowl in his direction, a look that is a little too intense in Veronica’s opinion to just be about defending Her engagement, and when Betty drags Veronica away to go talk to  _ anyone  _ else, Reggie throws Betty a wink and her suspicions are pretty much confirmed. 

A lot of people that Veronica speaks to for some reason feel the urge to let her know that they  _ never _ imagined Archie Andrews ending up with a city girl, from the upper east side no less, and that instead they envisioned him with someone a lot more down to earth, local, basically a lot more like Betty. 

Each comment like this makes Veronica’s fist tighten harder around the mug that she’s holding, full of lukewarm instant coffee she doesn’t dare drink. She thinks she can only withstand one more similar remark before she shatters the mug completely, when everyone’s attention is drawn to Fred as he hauls an old fashioned microphone stand from one of the closets. 

Everybody waits as he struggles to set the microphone up, when it's finally plugged in he attempts to speak into it, but nothing happens. Veronica awkwardly moves over to switch the actual thing on and offers Fred a small smile and thumbs up to let him know it should work now. 

Congregating in the middle of the diner opposite the entrance, Archie emerges from the depths of the booth and finds his place behind Veronica, placing a hand on her shoulder, whilst Jughead abandons the book he stole off Betty he was reading at the counter to come and stand next to them along with betty and Kevin. 

“Testing… Testing… one, two, three” Fred nervously mutters into the mic and Veronica can fell Archie’s breath on the back of her head from the sigh he emits at his fathers technological ineptitude, Veronica thinks its endearing- Fred’s awkwardness and not Archie’s embarrassment, obviously. 

“As much as I would love to say that I’m so happy to have everyone here, that’s not exactly true, you know most people wouldn’t really like their ex wife and her girlfriend at their 50th birthday gathering.” 

The whole crowd laughs at his joke, Mary and Brooke included, and Veronica is in awe at the solid relationship Archie’s parents seem to have with each other even after a divorce, the concept of being friends with a person you were once involved with is such a foreign concept to her, the idea of a family having no malice regarding one another that of an alien idea too. 

“However” Fred continues, taking a deep breath before continuing, “I can in all honesty say that I am so incredibly grateful to have my son, Archie, here today… and with his fiance Veronica too.”

Fred starts to clap and a few people join in and Veronica is mortified. 

“As we all know, Archie doesn’t visit our sleepy town all that often so I feel extra special that he’s decided to return, and I hope his beautiful fiance has enjoyed the small snippet of our home that she’s seen so far.... You know I don’t know that much about my future daughter-in-law, but I’m hoping this week can rectify that-”

“Oh my God” Archie mutters.

“Be nice” she hisses, annoyed that Archie would take such unwavering support from a parent for granted, something she’s pretty much begged and pleaded for her entire life. 

“Actually you know what, I don’t even know their engagement story, Arch why don’t you come up here and share it, no one needs to hear anymore about this old man's gratitude.”

Fuck. 

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. 

How the fuck did they forget to come up with a fake engagement story in the cab? 

“Oh I don’t know about that Dad” Archie stammers, face as red as the decor in the diner, and she curses how readable his face is, he looks completely panic stricken. 

“Go on Archie” Betty of all people pleads, pushing him towards the microphone and she can not believe she considered this puta a friend a few minutes ago. 

Archie stumble as he approaches the mic and leans forward to start, “So as you all know Veronica was my boss at a music record company”

“YEAH ANDREWS, GET IT.” a voice shouts and wolf whistles, and she’d bet every single one of her suitcases in the corner it's that heathen Reggie.

She counts to five and Archie still hasn’t said anything else and she’s scared that he can’t think of anything. 

“And- and because of this reason I thought the most romantic and thoughtful way to go forward was music” she sees his eyes scan the crowd to gage their reaction, and must decide it seems believable because he continues. 

“So I sang the proposal in a song, surrounded by candlelight and rose petals”

It’s a cute idea, she thinks, but she only likes the roses from that boutique in Paris- Venus et Fleurs. 

“Obviously” he adds, “the roses were from Venus et Fleurs because I know that Ronnie wouldn’t accept them from anywhere else.” 

As he says this they make eye contact, and she has to look away. 

A few heads in the crowd nod, and some put their hand on the chest but no one seems to be blown away by his proposal- so he adds more. 

“But the best part” he says, a love struck grin on his face that Veronica is impressed that he can fake so accurately, “the best part is that I had to sing it three times before she even understood what I was saying.”

Everyone in the diner seems to laugh at this, she gets a few pity “awwws” from some of Mary’s friends, but the most clear reaction is the guy who mutters “yeah she doesn’t seem like the most romantic type does she.” 

Veronica’s used to comments like this, being labelled a “ballbuster, “bitch” and every other demoralizing feminine term under the sun, hearing it in this context still stings though, not even in a hypothetical situation can Veronica Lodge be considered a romantic, caring and intuitive person- even to strangers she’s seen with sharp and jagged edges. 

She raises her chin, just like the way her mother taught her to, and when her eyes refocus onto Archie she’s surprised to see his mouth turned down in a frown, brows scrunched in anger. 

“I mean it wasn’t her fault” he adds sharply, “we all know I’m not fantastic with words, so I can assure you it was my lack of finesse and not her lack of romantic skills that meant the song needed to be repeated numerous times.”

It’s a nice feeling she decides in that very moment, to have someone come to your defence, to have someone who would be willing to take the blame in a situation for your sake. It’s nice, and it’s a new feeling too. 

Sensing the atmosphere had turned a little more serious, Archie tries to lighten the mood, “Anyways, she told me afterwards she pretended not to understand just because she wanted to hear me singing longer because she’s in love with my voice” and finishes the sentence by throwing her a wink. 

If her heart wasn’t beating so loudly from the unexpected wink she would have been able to hear the large collective “awhh” from the whole of the diner this time.

What she does hear however, is Kevin shouting from behind her that she should give her fiance a kiss and the cheers that follow. 

Already at the front, she nervously makes her way to Archie at the microphone, feeling extremely overdressed in her tweed skirt/ blazer two piece, accompanied with stiletto’s that still place her at least half a foot beneath Archie in height. 

Putting a hand on his chest she leans forward to lightly press a kiss to his lips, it’s chaste and almost maternal in nature, and it clearly doesn’t satiate the Andrew’s family and friends. 

“Oh come on, we clearly meant a proper kiss, not one Mary would give him.” Kevin rebutes. 

She thinks about doing it, really kissing him the way she did in her fathers office barely twenty four hours ago, but she has a feeling this small quaint town already perceives her as some sort of harletin swooping in like a femme-fatale and corrupting their golden boy right in front of their very eyes. So she ultimately decides against it. 

Archie however, does not. 

He splays a palm against the small of her back in an attempt to steady her as he leans down to kiss her, the other hand on the right side of her face making sure the whole of the diner can see what he’s doing- a small fact that makes her thighs tremble. 

She leans backwards with such intensity and force that a grunt escapes her mouth, which is immediately swallowed by Archie Andrews tongue. Her eyes (thank God) are closed, but she can feel them rolling in the back of her head and her fist scrunches up the material of his shirt and the other braces itself against his chest. 

His arm now snakes around her waist, pulling her closer and flush against his body. 

This is nothing like the kiss in her fathers office, yes that kiss was hot, but it was also manufactured and structured- she knew exactly what she was doing and why. 

This, this kiss is downright primal, her body moves automatically but she can’t even register what she’s doing or  _ why  _ she’s doing it.

She honest to God, is thinking about wrapping a leg round his calf when he pulls his lips away from hers, his body doesn’t move though: his hand is still on one side of her face, and their chests are still touching. 

When she opens her eyes her senses come flooding back, her breathing is labored and she can see how darkened his eyes are after that kiss. She can feel that her legs seem to be trembling and in the distance her ears pick up on a voice from the distance.

“Damn Andrews”. 

  
  
  
  
  


  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter done what did you think ??!!
> 
> I’m not 100 percent, but I’m pretty sure this fic is gonna end up having five chapters to it. 
> 
> I told myself that I was going to try and keep this fic as faithful to the film, but as you can see that went out the window pretty much straight away lol ... 
> 
> The biggest difficulty adapting this film for Varchie was definitely that in the film a lot of the main characters relationship is built on wit, bickering and sarcasm, which is obviously not Archie’s forte at all. Which is why I decided to throw Jughead into the mix and act as varchies sort of confidente and I think (hope) it worked. 
> 
> Finally, did anybody pick up on any potential love interests for Betty ??? Hmmmmmmm 
> 
> As always any comments and kudos are so hugely appreciated you have no idea (especially on this fic because I have put so much effort into it) 
> 
> And if you want to talk Varchie with me I’d love to chat !! You can find me on tumblr: @ronniesandrxws or on Twitter: @ivyxevermore 
> 
> \- Eeliz :)

**Author's Note:**

> *gasp* what do we reckon Archie's going to say? I mean you can probably guess by the description what he'll say but still, its fun to end on a cliffhanger
> 
> This fic is extremelyyyyyy out of my comfort zone: being both an AU as well as a multi chapter, so I hope everyone enjoyed. 
> 
> So anyways, that was my first chapter of my Archie "proposal" au, I did take some plot points from the original plot to more of a princess diaries 2 vibe just because I don't really feel comfortable writing about the very serious topic of immigration and deportation within a Riverdale fanfic so instead I settled with good old fashioned misogyny. 
> 
> I must give a huge thanks and shoutout to Fran (@theeternalblue on AO3, if you haven't read her Varchie stuff make sure you do it is AMAZING) because if it wasn't for her input on helping me out with the logistics of this fic it wouldn't have been possible to write!!! In particular, she came up with the idea that it would be Hiram and Veronica's grandfather's traditional ways that mean she has to be married in order to run the company.... 
> 
> This is just a small taster of what I have coming up for this fic, hopefully a much longer chapter should be coming in the next few weeks. 
> 
> but before I can start the next chapter I unfortunately have uni starting back up again literally tomorrow that will be taking up a lot of my writing time, as well as having a few ideas up my sleeve for some canon! Varchie fics that I want to write soon. 
> 
> specifically I have an idea for after the graduation episode that is once again inspired by the legendary couple of Pacey and Joey from Dawson's creek. 
> 
> Also, I can't lie I'm so sad that we're losing teenage Varchie for ever next week, truly feels like the end of an era and I'm going to miss them so much and I already DESPISE Veronica's husband (chad) just based on his character description so it looks like I'm in for a rough go during the beginning of the time jump. 
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this first chapter and if you did all kudos and comments are greatly appreciated !!!
> 
> If you ever fancy talking varvhie with me (because I always want to hear more about my favourite couple) you can find me on twitter @ivyxevermore or on Tumblr @ronniesandrxws. 
> 
> \- Eeliz :)


End file.
